Attached Paper Online Meeting 2024

Going global while standing with Arab refugees: Left Christians dissenting with their local Church. Missed or "un"-legacies, misconnections & ambiguities of French contributions to the early stages of liberation theologies in the Middle-East (1960s-80s)

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

After the Six Day War, French Left Christians were many to side with “Arab refugees”, by contrast with the majority of Catholics and Protestants in France. In May 1970, these Christian progressives, either lay or clergy, Western Catholics, Western Protestants and members of Eastern diasporas, represented a third of the 400 attendees to the First World Conference of Christians for Palestine, held in Beirut. The organization committee was even divided between Paris and Beirut, its general secretary being (Roman Catholic) George Montaron, editor-in-chief of Témoignage Chrétien, at odds with the Catholic hierarchy in France. The second conference was equally Western, in London (1972). To what extent can these forgotten French Left Christians really be considered as temporary links and connections in the global, decades-long history of Palestinian Liberation? or were they rather just a local expression of dissent, displaying support for Palestine while addressing mostly national, European-based issues?